


House Keys and Dead Phones

by ihaveacleverfandomurl



Series: Twinyards Appreciation Week 2019 [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Light Angst, Post-Canon, excessive name calling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 04:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21332209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihaveacleverfandomurl/pseuds/ihaveacleverfandomurl
Summary: Aaron and Neil trade insults when they’re locked out of the house alone together. And maybe bond. Just a little.(November 6 - Aaron, with Andrew’s People)
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neil Josten & Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Twinyards Appreciation Week 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534991
Comments: 15
Kudos: 213
Collections: Twinyards Appreciation Week 2019





	House Keys and Dead Phones

**Author's Note:**

> TW: discussion of Aaron & Neil’s abuse  
Written for [Twinyards Appreciation Week](https://twinyardsappreciationweek.tumblr.com/)!  
I locked Andrew and Neil in together yesterday and tbh I think I’m gonna keep pulling out some variations of that lol…and on a sadder note also look at me keep pulling out aaron trying to process tilda oof sorry but this one isn't as crazy angsty i promise

Aaron Minyard did not want to be here. And judging by the muttered swearing of the other man standing five feet away and kicking at his own front door, Neil Josten did not want to be either.

“What kind of asshole forgets his house key?” Aaron spat, and wrapped his arms tighter around himself, hunkering down on the porch step. It was way too cold for this shit. “You went through the whole work day without noticing that you didn’t have the one thing that would let you back into the place you live? And now your phone is dead? How stupid _are_ you?”

“What kind of dickhead shows up unannounced to visit and locks all his shit _including his own car keys and phone_ in his car, dumbass?” Neil returned hotly. One of his idiot cats yowled from the other side of the door that was still rattling under his foot, and Neil stopped immediately to coo, “sorry, Sir, didn’t mean to scare you,” in frankly impressively high pitched baby talk.

“There’s no way you can tell which rat that is.”

Neil turned on him with fire and brimstone in his eyes and Aaron instinctively scrambled down another few steps.

“They sound different, fucker. Also, King is probably sleeping somewhere and doesn’t care enough about where I am to come investigate, anyway.”

“Yeah, I’d feel the same.”

Neil kicked at Aaron’s shoulder and — as Aaron rubbed at the future bruise — flopped down next to him, pulling up the hood of his old Palmetto State sweatshirt and stuffing his hands into the pocket. Of course he still wore it. “God. This sucks.”

“When’s Andrew coming home?”

“I told you, I don’t know,” Neil snapped. “His team’s got a game coming up, they’re probably practicing later than usual tonight. You should have called ahead if you wanted to see him. We’re busy people.”

Aaron rolled his eyes. “I’m a doctor married to a doctor, who owns a dog with a multitude of health problems. I see a last minute spot in my schedule, I take it.”

Neil sniffed and wiped at his nose and they sat in mildly awkward silence for a while. Then, quietly: “How is…the dog…?”

Aaron actually turned to stare now, and Neil ducked further into his hood.

“I called your cats rats.”

“And I’m a decent human being who will ask after your furry child, believe it or not!”

“Debatable on the decent,” Aaron said, because he could. “Popo’s on medications that are working, for now. But pugs have never been the best at breathing, in general.” Even more awkwardly, he added, “And, uh. Them?”

“Christ, Aaron. The cats are fine, but I know you don’t care. This feels as bad as discussing the weather.”

“What, do you want me to pull out therapy techniques or something? Are you going to tell me about your trauma?”

The side of Neil’s mouth twitched down sharply and he went silent, examining his hands. Aaron couldn’t stop his own eyes from dropping to the ruin of skin — faded white lines and raised circular lumps, still apparent on the backs of Neil’s hands, disappearing up his sleeves.

“Do you still take care of those?” he asked before he could stop himself, in his Doctor Voice that Katelyn made fun of.

“Yes,” Neil said. “Do you still go to therapy, then?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know, sometimes when Andrew’s mad, he’ll tell me that I’m just as blind about my mom as you are?” Neil murmured. He laced his fingers together, pressed them to his mouth, and blew warm air, as Aaron felt a familiar old pain tug at his chest.

“Oh?” he managed.

“She always had a reason to hit me. I justified it because it was survival, and I was making mistakes. And she wasn’t my father, she could have really, really hurt me, but she was keeping me alive, when I would have died on my own. But a lot of people have told me that I need to stop trying to defend her actions. Because I didn’t deserve it.”

“But she didn’t need to die like that,” Aaron said, in a rusty voice.

“No,” Neil agreed, softly, as they both looked up to Andrew’s headlights turning into the driveway. “No, she didn’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT: let me know which of the Twinyard Week fics you'd like to see added to/rewritten & expanded first [in this poll](https://www.quiz-maker.com/poll2600440x78d64920-74)!  
GOD why couldn’t we have canon neil & aaron friendship it would’ve been so good you two lil stubborn assholes you have so much in common  
anyway lowkey wanted to keep going with this?? but I don't currently have time rip 😭  
-  
feel free to chat to me about aftg on tumblr @ [foxy-exy](https://foxy-exy.tumblr.com/)! [Here's the rebloggable fic post](https://foxy-exy.tumblr.com/post/188863588659/house-keys-and-dead-phones)! & here's [my cosplay instagram](https://www.instagram.com/kayizcray/) with some aftg cosplay on it!  
-  
comments are my lifeblood ( ˘ ³˘)♥


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